Rather than a scam, I wanted to point out to people to not waste time trying to get a appraisal at CarMax.
Case in point:
I recently bought a brand new fully loaded 2008 Infiniti G35S sedan and paid about $33K before taxes and license (sticker was $40K but year end sale allowed for much nicer deal). After driving it for about 6 months and 9,000 miles, I decided to get a bigger car for my family.
I went to Carmax Buena Park for an appraisal and they had told me that my car was worth $23K and that they do not use KBB to get the prices but rather dealer auction prices. I was okay to this point. Asking about the car I was really interested in, the dealer tells me that all the cars in Carmax is based on KBB retail prices. If it is so, at least give us KBB trade in value at fair price which was $25K.
Offended, I went to a new car dealership and got a brand new car instead with $3K off sticker and got $28.5K for my trade in. It was basically the same deal but I got a brand new car over a the same used car with 12K miles.
Lessons learned - there are other dealerships that will have the same car if not better at a much nicer deal.
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